We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Freshman Raegan Conlan drives past her Longhorn defender Saturday afternoon in Fort Benton. Conlan finished with six points in the contest.
The Turner Tornado girls varsity basketball team continues to make great strides on the court and its no longer a question of if but when will they get that win over one of the District 9C top teams.
This past weekend the girls fell 45-43 to the North Star Knights on Friday and 52-40 to the Fort Benton Longhorns on Saturday.
North Star took a 15-10 lead early as junior Ella Billmayer drained a pair of three point bombs to keep Turner close.
The Knights extended the advantage to 26-20 by intermission with freshman Rylee Conlan connecting from long range for the Tornadoes.
Turner saw the Knights extend their advantage in the third quarter 37-28.
Turner has shown an ability to compete for all 32 minutes of the contest and their game with the Knights was no exception.
Billmayer connected twice more from long range in the fourth quarter and junior Rennay Watkins contributed a pair of big buckets to help the Tornadoes battle back down the stretch.
Their great effort would come just short as it was the Knights that secured the 45-43 District 9C conference win.
Billmayer tallied 14 points to lead the Turner girls. Rylee Conlan added seven markers and freshman Melanie watkins contributed eight along with Rennay Watkins.
Saturday the girls headed to Fort Benton to take on the district number three seeded Longhorns.
The Longhorns took an 18-10 lead after eight minutes but Turner was able to stay within eight as the teams entered halftime with Fort Benton holding a 29-21 advantage.
Turner again used a strong third quarter effort to claw back into the game.
Billmayer scored six points in the from and Rylee Conlan connected from beyond the arc. Rennay Watkins scored five points and Turner outscored Fort Benton 17-12 to trim the Longhorn lead to 41-38 heading into the fourth.
The Tornadoes struggled to get anything going offensively, scoring just two points down the stretch as Fort Benton claimed a 52-40 win over Turner.
Rylee Conlan sored 11 points in the contest while Rennay Watkins added ten points to the effort.
Although the Turner girls have yet to get over the hump against a District 9C top tier team the have cut the gap considerably challenging those teams for all 32 minutes of the contest.
The teams second meeting with an opponent so far have shown considerable improvement in the outcome, "We've made such a good start to the second half of the season," said head coach Jen Baird.
"We came up short in both games but the improvement is huge. We're really coming together as a team, and I think they are even surprising themselves with how well they are matching up with opposing teams. We've had a few injuries but the girls are lifting each other up and supporting each other to keep improving," Baird concluded.
Turner will host Dodson Thursday and head to Chester Saturday to face the Hawks.
